Nine Civilians Killed As India, Pakistan Trade Fire In Kashmir

October 07, 2014

An Indian villager carries a child past a house where four members of a family were reported to have been killed in cross-border firing between Indian and Pakistani soldiers at Mashe de Kothe village in Arnia sector near the India-Pakistan border.

Nine civilians have died in fighting along a stretch of the disputed border between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region.

The fighting on October 6, which injured another 25 wounded people, is the heaviest since India called off a round of peace talks last month.

Rakesh Kumar, an inspector-general of the Indian border security forces, said Pakistani forces shelled the village of Arnia about three kilometers from the border in the early hours of October 6, killing five Indians.

Authorities in Pakistan said their forces were responding to Indian fire, which they said had killed four Pakistani civilians, including two children and a woman.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947.